Learning to walk like Francis of Assisi and daring to speak in God's name.
A public diary about religious life.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

San Niccolo Friary

Sojourning in Babylon Village, NY, at my brother Nicholas' apartment, to be known henceforth as San Niccolo Friary.

Slept well in the living room on my brother's air mattress and underneath the whirring breeze of the ceiling fan. Arose at six-thirty; meditation and morning prayer at my brother's meal table in the cool gray light of a new day. Mass at eight o'clock at Our Lady of Grace with about thirty parishioners assembled behind the sanctuary's main altar in the Marian chapel. Frozen pancake breakfast back at San Niccolo Friary while brother guardian is at work in the Town of Babylon. Reading the Sunday Times and thinking about the day trips Nicholas and I will be taking Wednesday through Friday. On our itinerary: Manhattan, namely the Lower East Side and the Tenement Museum; and Montauk, L.I., namely the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum. We'll figure out when to go where as we study the weather. Now computing and corresponding, waiting for brother guardian to come home for lunch. Later, a haircut and stroll around the village; a look-see through a chapter or two of Nicholas' copy of The Passage of Power, Robert Caro's latest volume in The Years of Lyndon Johnson; and evening prayer and dinner in the village with brother guardian.

I have nothing that I have to do, only to listen to the Spirit and respond. I am free to be, free to pray, free to love.

There is nothing more I need to do to make ready for Kansas and California. Everything is ready. If I could, I would get on the airplanes tomorrow. Being with my first and forever brother: this alone keeps me from leaving now.

About Me

I was born Sept. 27, 1977, in Flushing, NY, and raised in North Babylon, NY. From the suburbs of Long Island I moved to the hills and gorges of Ithaca, NY, studying at Cornell University. There, my spirit was awakened, and everything changed. The Spirit that stirred my spirit brought me to Baltimore and then to Boston. I studied at Boston University School of Theology and learned better how I wanted to live. Today, I am a Capuchin Franciscan friar in simple vows. Yesterday, I was a community organizer in Boston, an editor in New York, and a teacher in Baltimore. Tomorrow, God only knows.
Many things interest me, though nothing in particular. I have an abiding interest in living simply and living well. Life that is authentic interests me.